The Dangers of Friendship
by Jane Glass
Summary: Rhys might never understand the dangers of friendship, but Shinon does...he understands too well.


**The Dangers of Friendship**

**AN: Shinon and Rhys story, where I show that Shinon and him are kind of friends, and they talk a bit about Shinon's carefulness of not acting himself and keeping himself guarded around others. Warnings: Physical injury to an important character and possible OCCness... Enjoy.**

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Though the battle was going well, the bandits were starting to surround them, crowding around them and giving them nowhere to run.  
Shinon watches as Ike begins shouting new orders to everyone, letting some of the fighters do as they please, while directing the others however he saw fit.

A loud yelp gets Shinon's attention, and he looks to see Rhys a about five feet from him on his knees and holding side where blood's seeping through his clothes.

The battle field was going to get out of hand soon if they didn't start regrouping into a small circle to protect each others' backs.

Shinon turns to look at everyone around him as he shouts, "Everyone back up some, we need to have a front line of tough fighters, weaker people will go behind and so on!"

A few turn to look at Ike questioningly, and Ike quickly says, "Do as Shinon said!"

Ike seems to spot Rhys just then, though, "Someone needs to get Rhys out of here!"

Shinon nods a little, mostly to himself as he realizes he's out of arrows, "I've got him!"

Shinon turns to Rhys and runs towards him, quickly grabbing him around his lower back to allow Rhys to wrap an arm around his neck for support. Shinon looks at Titania who had been protecting Rhys from more bandits, "Got this?"

She turns to him for a moment, wiping some of her cherry red hair and sweat away from her face, "Yeah, get him to safety."

Shinon nods, then heads towards some woods behind the group of fighters, trying to go slow enough for Rhys.

Once they're a good few feet in the forest Shinon stops and lowers Rhys onto the ground where he can lean up against a tree, then he searches his pockets for a potion to heal Rhys with.

Unfortunately, Shinon hardly ever needs those potions and hardly ever carries any of them, and when he does, he ends up giving them to Rolf or...Rhys.

He looks to Rhys now, hoping he has a potion with him, "You're going to have to heal yourself if you don't have a potion, because I don't have any with me."

Rhys winces as he begins searching for one, then he finds one within a few minutes and begins trying to open it, but he stops and winces again, quickly putting his hand back to his side.

Shinon gets on his knees next to him, "Let me."

He takes the bottle from Rhys and opens it, then leans forward to rip the hole in Rhys's robe open more to better reveal the wound before pouring some of the potion onto the injury.

Rhys grits his teeth while whimpering under his breath at the burning sensation as the potion begins cleaning and healing the wound.  
Shinon remains still a moment, then pours more onto his skin before taking part of Rhys's robe and ripping a small piece off before folding it and then he rubs that over the injury, smoothing the potion in.

Rhys leans his head back against the tree, shutting his eyes and relaxing a bit. The sniper watches him for a moment, then asks, "Are you alright?"  
Rhys turns his head to glance at Shinon, "I'm okay... I hope I didn't worry you too badly."

Shinon sighs while leaning against a tree close by, "You did. You should be more careful, you idiot."

Rhys nods a bit, "I know...I'm not going to cowardly stand behind though if I see someone who needs to be healed."

The sniper glances at him angrily, "Better them than you. You're our healer, if you get hurt trying to help someone, then you might not be able to help anyone else."

Rhys looks away, "They're all my friends. I can't see this as just a job. I did at first but..."

"But you let them turn you into one of them. Into their friend."

Rhys turns to look at Shinon now, frowning as he stares, deep in thought, "Is that why you keep your guard up the way you do? Why you do let them know you too well?"

Shinon nods once, "That...and...I hate losing people I care about. If I don't care about them...then I'm not losing them...when they..."

Rhys looks down, deep in thought again. A moment of silence overcomes the small area between the trees and bushes, but Rhys soon breaks that silence, "Wouldn't it be better to have friends and lose them, then to never have had friends at all? Surely it must be lonely..."

"I have friends. You're my friend, aren't you?"

Rhys glances at Shinon and nods, watching Shinon's broken smile appear too quickly before disappearing again, watching the water in Shinon's eyes try to spill over, and how he blinks them away. Tough as ever...

"Shinon..."

The sniper quickly stands up and turns as the rest of the group walks over, "About time."

Ike walks past Shinon and over to Rhys, perhaps wanting to make sure he's alright, "Sorry it took so long, Oscar got hit in the shoulder by an arrow."

Rhys nods, "It's alright."

Ike smiles a little, then turns to the rest of the group, "Well, let's go then."

As everyone begins walking, Shinon helps Rhys back up and they to follow Ike and the rest of their team.

Rhys looks to Shinon, "If you ever want to talk about anything..."

Shinon quickly speaks up just as quietly as Rhys, "I know... Thank you... I have enough friends, though...and while true that I wouldn't regret being your friend if you ever...ever die...it'd still hurt...a lot... I'm taking enough risks, alright?"

Rhys nods a little, not completely sure he agrees. Everyone dies eventually...life's a risk. Friendship may be dangerous, but so is the battlefield. Rhys can't help but wonder what the difference is. He supposes that he'll never understand the dangers of friendship.


End file.
